Her new family
by Castiel-Fan
Summary: After the events on Ego, Peter and the rest of his crew decides to stop by at an uninhabited planet to get some rest. While the others enjoy themselves, Mantis keeps her distance to the Guardians, watching them silently. This is all so new to her, because she never had people around her that treated her with respct. People who liked her. People, that were like her family...


_**First things first.  
I DON'T OWN GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY!  
ALL RIGHTS BELONGS TO THE RESPECTIVE OWNERS OF THE MOVIE!**_

_SPOILER WARNING FOR GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOLUME 2!_

__I have written this for a friend of mine and it's finally finished, yaaaaay! After such a long, long time, it's finally done!  
And boy, was this a pain in the a** to translate! I am so, so sorry for grammer and spelling mistakes.__

___Don't forget: english isn't my first language.___

____**And i would appreciate feedback in the form of a comment very much.  
Please don't be shy and share your thoughts with me. I won't bite you.  
And besides: Comments keep my motivation up to write and upload my stuff^^**____

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**Her new Family**

Loud and carefree laughter reached her ears and she felt how her mouth twitched up into a big smile.

An exuberant mood prevailed on the Milano this evening.

People laughed, joked, drunk a lot and loud music boomed from the boxes of the ship.

Even the toughest of them would soften that evening, laying down their hard facade and just letting themselves fall into their amusement.

Mantis enjoyed the sight of their new friends, enjoying the big smile which she could see on everyone's face. Even Gamora wore a wide smile on her lips that night, which became larger, as she looked at Peter, who returned her gaze with a smile on his own. Mantis knew what Peter felt for the green warrior and even if she hadn't read Gamora's true feelings, she could see it in her face how much she seemed to love Peter too. It was a wonderful sight for her. Especially after everything that had happened on Ego. But she didn't want to think about that now. She preferred to let her black eyes wander further through the spaceship.

She saw Kraglin, sitting on the floor together with Drax and for some reason the two of them couldn't stop laughing. Rocket and the little Groot stood a little apart and seemed to enjoy themselves at the expense of the other two. From time to time, Peter turned his attention to the four and shouted something that Mantis couldn't understand, because his voice was drowned out by the booming music. But judging by Drax's loud laughter, it seemed to be something funny. And whenever Peter looked at Gamora, his expression changed, softening and the broad grin faded, giving way to a gentle smile and whenever the green warrior turned her eyes to the young man, his cheeks turned into a delicate pink and he quickly turned his face away from her and seemed to prefer to return his attention to Drax and Kraglin. None of them hadn't seen Nebular for a long time and as Mantis already knew her, she had probably retired to one of the quarters to rest. Apparently it was all too much for her and Mantis wasn't surprised by that, because she knew her backstory and she didn't even begin to imagine what horror Nebular had experienced under Thanos cruel hand...

Every now and then someone beckoned to her, but Mantis denied the offer and preferred to stay away from the furious mob, preferring to watch the whole scene from a safe distance. But when she let her eyes wander through the Milano again, she noticed that someone was missing.

She couldn't see Yondu anywhere, which surprised her, because otherwise he was always at the side of his first mate or Peter. She also saw him together with Rocket and Groot and she didn't want to know what the three of them had experienced together, that they had become such close friends during their journey.

As she moved her black eyes toward the open hatch of the ship, she finally found the Centaurian.

He was sitting outside the spaceship and had his back turned to them all.

A few hours ago they had landed on this uninhabited planet, since Peter had decided that they could all use some rest, but his way of resting looked quite different from what Mantis had in mind, because it had not taken long for anyone to get some alcoholic drinks and Peter had turned the music so loud that Mantis was already worried that they would all be deaf the next morning.

Yondu seemed to have sneaked away from Milano at some point.

She shuddered, as she thought back to what had happened to him.

He had almost died when they had fled from Ego and Peter was still mad at the Centaurian and most of the time, the two argued with each other. Whenever that happened, Yondu gave in with a growl and he wrapped himself in silence. Often Mantis could see that he was still weak and he didn't seem to like it at all. Above all, he seemed to hate being mothered by Peter. Mantis couldn't understand his anger at all, because Peter was only worried and wanted to help him. But something must have happened between them when they were still on Ego, because since he was back, Peter behaved strangely towards Yondu. He was acting different than before and whatever had happened between them, it must have been something big.

Yondu didn't talk about it and Peter was silent as well, but it didn't go past Mantis, that the Terran's lips always twitched up into a gentle smile, when Yondu threw a few teasing words into his direction and she could say the same about the pirate himself. Yondu could act as hard and cold-hearted as he wanted to, but really everyone could see at this point that he was not really angry with Peter, that he appreciated his care, but something in his heart just didn't allow him to show these feelings too openly. Who knew what he had already experienced, that he thought that feelings and emotions were a weakness...

Even in the time he had had to stay in bed, he had resisted all attempts to help him, but Peter was just as stubborn as he was and he hadn't given in; Yondu could have growled as much as he wanted to or throw a threat of murder after another into his face.

Mantis couldn't help smiling softly as she remembered how Peter had been standing at Yondu's bed again, throwing another blanket over his body to keep him warm. "If I get out of this bed, I swear that I'll eat ya, boy!" he had threatened Peter, but he had only laughed, had thrown a "Yeah, yeah, of course you will do that, you old grumpy, smurf" into his direction and he had put the blanket over him and Yondu had resisted only halfway and quickly hid his little smile into his pillow, so nobody could see it...

These two could be like fire and water and yet it seemed as if something big would be connecting them with each other.

And Mantis wanted to find out what it was...

Without further ado, she decided to get up and leave the Milano.

As much as she would have liked to watch the others, but her curiosity was greater than anything else and thus she slowly moved out of the ship and stepped out into the dark night.

A pleasantly cool breeze greeted her and she paused for a moment, closing her eyes and listening to the wind, which whispered softly into her ears. She felt the soft ground under her feet and heard the wind brush gently through the treetops and tickling the lush green leaves. This planet was something special. Perfection and just beautiful. Other than on Ego, she felt comfortable here and yes, maybe she could even imagine living on such a planet, but she knew that wouldn't work well in the long run, because she didn't want to be alone anymore. Not after meeting Peter and his friends. Especially not after meeting Drax...

A smile spread over her face at such thoughts and she quickly shook her head, instead trying to concentrate fully on her own little mission and when she opened her eyes again, she looked at Yondu, who was still sitting on a fallen tree, not far away from the Milano and playing with his Yaka arrow, which he held in his hands. She wanted to know why he wasn't celebrating with the others. Especially now that he seemed to feel better again and could get up. And she also wanted to know why he had changed so much, because she remembered the time when he had returned to Ego and brought him one of his children. At that time, Yondu was completely different than he was now. He had been cold-hearted and unemotional at the time and now he was almost the complete opposite; especially if he was with Peter or with Kraglin. Even when he was with Rocket and Groot, he behaved quite differently than he did then and she finally wanted to know what the reason was...

She started moving again, walking slowly toward the Ravager, who apparently heard her, because when she was close enough, he turned his head and looked questioningly at her over his shoulder. When he recognized her, he smiled gently at her in greeting, but didn't speak to her.

"May I sit down?" she asked and Yondu nodded after initial hesitation.

As she sat down, the Centaurian had already returned his gaze to the small forest in front of them. Mantis did the same and she felt a joyful feeling in her heart, as she saw the little glowing creatures, flying excitedly through the air, lighting the dark forest and making him seem a little happier.

The first life, what this planet created...beautiful...

"It's beautiful here," she whispered and she addressed those words more to herself than to anyone else. She was all the more surprised when Yondu answered her with a faint "Yes, it is," and immediately her eyes turned back to him, but his eyes were still fixed on the dark forest and it was almost like he was not really present. She was almost tempted to reach her hand out to him to read his feelings, but she resisted in the last moment, not daring to do so. She remembered Gamora's reaction, as she had tried this with her back then. Who knew how Yondu would react? She didn't want to find out. Especially not when he was playing around with his deadly arrow, which Rocket had repaired for him...

Nevertheless, she almost burst with curiosity, which Yondu seemed to notice after a few more moments, because he now turned his red eyes on her and gave her a questioning look.

"What's wrong with ya, girl? What'ya doing out here anyway? Go to the others and have some fun. That would do ya good."

She should have fun while he was sitting out here, looking like he had been abandoned by the entire universe?

As if he could read her mind, a soft chuckle crept out of his throat and he gave her a small smile.

"Don't ya worry about me. I am fine."

"Why are you sitting here alone then?"

"Everybody needs some time for himself every now and then."

She was silent, didn't really know what to answer and she didn't need to anyways, because for Yondu the topic seemed to be over. He turned his eyes to the sky, looked at the stars and again there was that strange expression in his eyes. But she didn't say anything and she decided to stop asking questions. Conversations were still not easy for her and she still had much to learn and before she said anything wrong, she preferred to keep quiet.

But at some point she couldn't stand the silence anymore.

" Are you trying to avoid others?" she blurted out and she regretted this question directly. But Yondu just smiled, kept looking at the starry sky and shook his head.

"No, I ain't doing that. They are all so young. I let them party and have some fun."

He looked at her again and grinned slightly.

"Besides, for an old man like me, there ain't no place between so many young people."

Mantis giggled when she heard that.

"You are not that old, are you?"

His grin widened a bit.

"Who knows? Maybe yes, maybe no?"

Okay, now he was just teasing her.

But she didn't fail to notice that his eyes softened and his eyes seemed to radiate and laugh at her and she loved that sight.

A look, that she had never received from Ego...

"It's nice to see that you're feeling well," she told him and he smiled gently at her, knowing that she meant her words honestly.

"Oh, that was nothing, I have experienced much worse, girl..." he answered her and he tried not to blush.

"I think that was very brave what you did for Peter. Not everybody would have done that. "

Praise...so much praise at once...

Something Yondu still wasn't used to and he quickly turned his face away from Mantis and cleared his throat in embarrassment. Yet he couldn't deny that he didn't feel something like pride. And maybe the empath was even right: really, not everyone would have done that...

He had thought that he would die on this day, but that it would end like that, he wouldn't even have dreamed of. He had been ready to die on Ego to save Peter's life, and that had almost happened, but Kraglin had reacted quickly, stayed close and that was what had saved his life in the end. And the bond between him and his first mate had become even stronger on that day. Kraglin was more than just a good friend to him. He loved him like his own son. As much as he loved Peter...or as much as Stakar had loved him, back, when he was still under his leadership...

A tingling sensation on his hand was tearing him out of his thoughts and as he turned his head to Mantis, he saw how she had her eyes closed and how her antennae were glowing. When he realized that she was reading his feelings, he was tempted to pull his hand away, but he just couldn't bring it over his heart. Especially not, when her lips twisted into a big smile. And when she opened her eyes a little later, Yondu thought he saw the mischief twinkling in them. At least that's how it looked to him.

"You're not as tough as you always pretend to be, are you?"

He pouted and turned his face away from her.

"I don't know what yer talking about, kid..."

"Your feelings betray you."

"Pfft, oh please...it's probably just that those weird looking things, yer wearing on yer head, are broken."

She laughed and the sound made even Yondu's otherwise cold heart soften.

Mantis was about to open her mouth and answer the Centaurian's teasing words, as she suddenly heard footsteps behind her. She turned her head and saw Peter approaching them both, wrapping his jacket a little tighter around him.

"Hey, Mantis. Yondu. What are you doing out here? Don't you want to come in? It's pretty cold out here."

As Mantis still touched Yondu's hand with hers, she could feel how the Centaurian's emotions changed. She felt joy...love...and something else that she couldn't quite interpret.

As Peter stood next to them and saw how Mantis had her hand on Yondu's, he raised an eyebrow in question, before a small, playful grin spread across his face.

"Am I disturbing you?"

Yondu rolled his eyes, Mantis didn't understand what he meant and Peter grinned like a Cheshire Cat.

"Go away, Quill and take care of yer own things!"

But Peter didn't think to go now. Oh no. The whole thing was far too interesting and so he went to Yondu, stood behind him and cheekily wrapped his arms around his upper body, which elicited a deep growl from him.

Mantis would have been seriously worried about Peter's wellbeing right now, wouldn't she continue to read in Yondu's feelings that told her, that he was faking his anger.

She still felt deep joy and honest love.

"Ya have five seconds to take yer hands off me, boy!" the pirate growled, but Peter just laughed and Mantis couldn't resist a little giggle.

"Come on, you old spoilsport. Relax a bit."

"I'll show ya how relaxed I am! One!"

"As if I am scared of you! What do you want to do, huh? Do you want to eat me..._Dad_? "

Yondu felt how his right eyelid begin to twitch dangerously and he took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves down. This Terran boy was too much for him...

Since this thing on Ego, he didn't leave him alone with this "dad thingy" and the worst part was that he even pulled that off in front of the others. Yondu just wanted to sink into the ground and never return whenever Peter did that...

Well, that's what he always said. In truth, his heart almost burst with pride whenever Peter called him "Dad", but nobody needed to know that, right?

When he heard Mantis giggling next to him, he knew that she knew the truth now and he couldn't prevent his lips twitching upwards against his will. To top it all, Peter also seemed to notice this, because he could feel the Terran's grin in his neck.

"Awww, just look at him, Mantis. He always pretends to be tough and dangerous, but in truth he's an old softie. Am I right, Dad?"

His eyelid twitched again and he gritted his teeth.

"Two…"

"You can count to a thousand and I wouldn't let you go."

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that, Quill! Three!"

"Hey Mantis? Did you know that he even saved my favorite music? He had been storing them in the Eclector system for all these years, even though he used to tell me not to bother him with my "shitty music". But in truth, he loved it so much that he quickly saved it and it's even on the Zune he gave me. If that is not a proof of love, then I don't know what else it could be."

"Proof of love? I was just mentally deranged when I did that! Four!"

The young man grinned and poked his forefinger several times into his side, which made Yondu growl again.

"Of course, Dad. I totally believe you..." he teased him.

And that was the moment when it became too much.

"That's enough now! Five!"

Yondu already pursed his lips for a whistle, but Peter saw this coming and quickly clapped his hands over his mouth to stop him from whistling and his eyes widened, as if he had just seen a terrible space monster.

"Crap! He's serious!" he said and he looked over to Mantis, hoping she could convince him otherwise and yes, maybe she would have done so, but she had rarely had so much fun and as she looked over to Yondu and saw that he grinned at her, she just had to play along with him. She could tell by the laugh lines around his eyes, that he was grinning at her and she decided to play along with this silly game. She still felt the pure joy in his heart, but when she looked at Peter, her eyes became serious, which made the young man sweat.

"You upset him. I feel anger. So much anger. If I was you, I would run for my life, Peter!"

Even Yondu had to admit that she sounded quite convincingly and Peter swallowed the bait, because his eyes widened and his heart almost skipped a beat. And then Yondu did something he would never have expected him to do: he bit down; fully into his finger, causing the young man to pull his hands away from him with a loud, startled scream.

"OUCH! What the hell…?! Yondu! Are you crazy?!" he grumbled and he shook his hand, but the Centaurian only grinned, licking his lips as he turned his head and looked at him.

"Didn't I always tell ya as a kid that I'm going to eat ya? Maybe I should make this threat come true now? I mean...ya Terrans really don't taste bad..."

Oh damn…

As fast as Peter turned around and headed for the Milano, neither Mantis nor Yondu could watch and the two laughed, as they watched him and how he didn't see the branch in his haste and fell over it. He fell to the ground with his belly first and when he tried to get up again, he moved himself into a perfect position for the next joke.

"Hmm, what do ya say Mantis? The right or the left butt cheek?"

The empath didn't quite understand what the Centaurian meant by his words, but when he gave a short whistle and when the Yaka arrow now hovered beside his head, she knew what he meant and she giggled.

"You wouldn't do that...would you?"

His expression softened again and he shook his head.

"Nah. I wouldn't do that...at least not to Petey," he grinned and he whistled again and the arrow disappeared in the bag that hung around his waist.

"And you wouldn't really eat him, would you?"

The pirate's grin widened and his eyes sparkled again when he looked at Mantis.

"Let me say it this way: I wouldn't really eat him. This threat once had a different meaning when he was a kid. It had something to do with what I found out by accident and we made some kind of game out of it. Well, it was a game for me. But I think Petey enjoyed it as much as I did. Nobody knew about it. Not even Kraglin. Nice times, when I think about it now..."

And Mantis didn't even need to touch his hand now to know what deep joy and love he felt for Peter at that moment. Actually everyone could have seen that, as this was one of those rare moments when Yondu showed his true feelings.

"Will you show this game to me sometime?"

His lips twisted into a slightly dark grin again and his red eyes sparkled.

"Little Petey would surely hate me for this, but since he always mocks me in the front of the others, I would consider it. Besides, I haven't done that for a very long time. And it's time to teach mah boy some manners again. I'm sure it still works on him and when it's time, you can help me. You just have to be able to hold him down and let me do the rest..."

Again a giggle passed through the empath's lips and she turned her head to look after Peter, who had already returned to the Milano, where Gamora had already been waiting for him. Yondu also turned around and the two watched in silence as the others indulged in their fun and celebrated exuberantly.

But it didn't stop there, because at some point Peter came back, followed by the rest of the crew and they all squeezed themselves onto the fallen tree trunk and relocated the party just outside the spaceship. Even Nebular eventually joined them and it was the first time in her entire live that Gamora saw her sister smiling and enjoying herself. Yondu's features also got softer and at some point he had as much fun as all the others had. Even when Peter started to tease him again. The boy just couldn't stop it...

And Mantis?

She was sitting on the tree trunk with Drax, Kraglin and Yondu at some point and together they watched the others. Gamora and Peter stood arm in arm, trying to dance gracefully to the beat of the music, but since Peter had already looked a bit too deep into the glass, it was anything but easy. Rocket and the little Groot stood a little off to talk with each other and Nebular leaned against one of the trees, watching the scene in silence, but with the touch of a small, gentle smile on her lips.

And it was at that moment that Mantis was so happy as never before in her life.

Here she had not only found happiness, but also something like a family.

A family, she loved, that protected her and would always be there for her.

And she was so grateful for this precious gift...

**The end**

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**Author's note:**

There is one little thing I would like to mention here: I don't see Mantis and Drax in a romantic releationship, since Drax already stated it in the movie that he doesn't like her in THAT way. I see them more in a father/daughter releationship, just saying. And the same thing goes for Yondu ;).


End file.
